The Glycemic Index (GI) is a valuable tool for managing your food choices. By becoming aware of how particular foods act on your body, you can start making more informed decisions on formulating meal plans.

What is the Glycemic Index

The glycemic index measures a particular carbohydrate food’s ability to raise your blood sugar levels relative to that of glucose. When we eat carbohydrates, they are digested and influence our blood sugar levels. Some carbohydrates raise blood glucose levels a lot (such as glucose), while others don’t affect levels much at all.
Glucose has a GI rating of 100, so every food is either equal to or lower than 100. The higher the number, the higher the blood sugar response.

How the Glycemic Index Helps You Lose Fat

By keeping your blood glucose levels low, you will better manage our insulin response to food. As insulin is a powerful storage hormone, you want to keep it low and under control. If insulin levels are too high fat cannot be released and burnt up. Eating foods with a low GI enable a steady supply of glucose, keep insulin levels under control, and enable fat loss.

Low GI vs Hi GI
A 5 week study evaluating the effects of a low GI diet versus a high GI diet showed the low GI diet group had a decrease in fat mass by approximately 2 pounds and an increase in lean body mass without any change in body weight. The participants changed their body composition, kept hunger at bay,felt fuller and so wanted to snack less.

Low GI vs Low Fat
In another study comparing the effects of a low GI diet to a standard reduced-fat diet to treat childhood obesity, the low GI diet group experienced a better body mass index (BMI) improvement and a lower body weight when compared to the reduced-fat group. This study shows that carbohydrate selection and control of blood glucose have a greater influence on weight loss than reducing fat intake. This is most likely due to the increased insulin sensitivity brought on by eating non-processed carbohydrate can improve the way your body reacts to insulin, so you’ll need less to have good reaction.